The present disclosure relates generally to solid-phase analytical chemistry, and has specific applicability to nucleic acid arrays for high throughput genomics analysis. The task of cataloguing human genetic variation and correlating this variation with susceptibility to disease stands to benefit from advances in genome wide sequencing methodologies. This cataloguing effort holds promise for identifying the markers in each person's genome that will help medical professionals determine susceptibility of that person to disease, responsiveness to specific therapies such as prescription drugs, susceptibility to dangerous drug side effects and other medically actionable characteristics. The cataloguing effort is well under way. This is due in large part to commercially available genome sequencing methodologies which are sufficiently cost effective to allow test subjects to be evaluated in a research setting. Improvements in sequencing methodologies are needed to accelerate the cataloguing effort. Moreover, the relatively high cost of sequencing has hindered the technology from moving beyond the research centers and into the clinic where doctors can obtain sequences for patients in the general population.
Sequencing methodologies and the systems used to carry them out, exploit a complex collection of technologies. Improvements in some of these technologies have been shown to provide substantial cost reductions. However, it is difficult to predict which if any is amenable to cost reducing improvements. Given the dependencies between the technologies in the sequencing systems it is even more difficult to predict which can be modified without having an adverse impact on the overall performance of the methodology or system. Thus, there exists a need to identify improvements that can bring the promise of genomics research to the clinic where lives can be improved and in many cases saved. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.